1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to apparatus for dispensing liquid and pulverulent materials.
2. Description of the Related Art
The assignee of the present invention has provided a number of commercially successful automatic dispensing machines. These machines have found ready acceptance in the paint and coatings art. Examples of these machines are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,083,591; 5,116,134; 5,137,367; and 3,851,798.
The machines referred to above are especially adapted for dispensing materials into containers which can be carried by hand, or which can also be delivered by conveyors to points remote from the dispensing station. For very high volume production runs, or when unusually large containers are to be filled, an unusually large source of material to be dispensed must be kept on hand at the dispensing station, and must be readily replenished, if necessary, during a work shift to keep the dispensing station fully operational with a maximum utilization. As mentioned, unusually large amounts of materials are sometimes dispensed during a typical production run. One example of such a situation is found in paint production facilities or so-called "paint factories" where basic ingredients of a paint formulation are manufactured or otherwise produced.
It has been found advantageous to provide what may be called "continuous" material supply, theoretically a supply of infinite size compared to the amount of material required during prolonged production runs. A typical situation may be visualized as a "tank farm" of materials coupled together through manifold arrangements to produce a source for a pipeline which runs through the production plant, with the pipeline being coupled to a dispensing apparatus. Special arrangements must be made to accommodate these so-called "infinite sources" of material and improvements in dispensing machinery for such installations have been sought.